Friday, January 29, 2016

On Sunday January 24, friends of Shady Fox, a resident known in several places in Second Life, paid their respects to him at Raglan Shire. Following the dedication of a permanent memorial to the departed resident, a tribute music concert was held in his honor.

Here's the video of last week's "Lab Chat," with Ebbe Linden, Saffia Widdershins, and Jo Yardley. Transcripts can be found on Inara Pey's "Modem World." Projects Bento and Sansar were discussed, among other subjects.

BAY CITY, SL (28th January, 2016) - For Bay Citizens, one of the highlights of Second Life's® 10th Birthday Community Celebration in 2013 was a display highlighting the history of Bay City and the Bay City Alliance. It was long-hoped to bring the display back to Bay City after the event.

Thanks to landowner Sylvia Tamalyn and History Pavilion producer Marianne McCann, as well as additional donations by Uccello and Angela Poultry-Seale and Laetizia "Tish" Coronet, this display now graces Bay City, hosted just west of the Bay City Fairgrounds. It can be found at Bay City - Molesworth (235, 115, 25)

The build, which will officially open in conjunction with Mole Day festivities this Saturday, is already welcoming visitors from Bay City and beyond. It boasts a chronological history of the city as well as a Bay City poster display, a wall featuring past and present Ms Bay City winners, and a photo display of prominent places around the city.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, please contact Sylvia Tamalyn or Marianne McCann.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

It was thirty years ago, January 28, 1986, in which the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. The event was the greatest loss of life in the pursuit of space travel at the time, matched only by the Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. For teenagers at the time whom were fans of the US space program (including myself) it was a blow that would weigh on their minds for quite some time. The disaster, caused by the solid rocket boosters' O rings having gotten frozen in the cold winter weather, would put America's manned space program on hold for almost three years. Before the disaster, spaceflight seemed like it was almost becoming routine, safe enough to allow "America's first teacher in space." Afterwards, the program would never be the same again (Wikipedia article).

Here in Second Life, one can see a virtual replica of two Space Shuttles. They're at the International Space Museum at Spaceport Bravo (85, 120, 22).

The Space Shuttles were grounded after July 21 2011 following the landing of Atlantis (SL Newser article), the ships having brought up enough of the Space Station for smaller rockets to finish America's contributions. Since then, US astronauts have been hitchhikers on Russian space launches. With an anemic economy and persistent budget deficits, it may be many years before America once again launches men, and women, into space on it's own.

Join us at noon as we remember those lost to making real our dreams of space. We will discuss space disasters, space risks, and how these affect the future of space exploration and development.

Noon to 2pm SL (Pacific) timeat the National Space Society in Second Life “Space Remembrance Walk” next to the Neil A. Armstrong Library and Archiveshttp://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/National%20Space%20Society/105/141/3005

Cypress Rosewood will perform a memorial concert from 1 to 2 pm SL time.The legendary SL space musician, Cypress Rosewood performs his musical magic with flutes, guitars and synthesizers throughout the SL world and is a metamedia treat to see live, in concert. http://cypressrosewood.com

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Taken at the memorial dance party on Sunday January 24 following the service for Shady Fox. Keeba Tammas and her band of tinies were on stage when one of the band went up in flames. With Keeba's AO opening her mouth at times, there were points she looked like she was calling out. Guess the music was getting a little "hot."

Dr. Philly (Joshua Xavier) is back with his column about "people issues"
in Second Life, such as love, relationships, drama, and more. In the
latest two letters, the first has a club manager advertising his venue through Facebook dealing with a supposed former sim owner whom demands he leave and help in spreading "the truth." The second reader points out the success of Joshua (and his alt Becky Shamen) in Second Life compared to him, and asks why the difference.

Among those in the Sunweaver Estates, where the Second Life Newser's office makes it's home, is Marusame Arai. Between there and a few hangouts such as Luskwood, Marusame, or simply Maru to her friends, she's gotten a little attention through her cutsie mannerisms and her pinkish appearance, selling a few wares on Marketplace and appearing in an occasional cartoon.

More recently, Maru's made news by being interviewed by Kotaku, a video game newsblog. Besides her Second Life activities, she's a self-described "angry video game nerd" whom has a number of games on Steam. Among the things that makes her angry is the censorship of some video games, such as certain Japanese ones before being put on the US market. So she created a group on Steam: the "Cut-Content Police," which currently has over 970 members.

"I felt that knowing whether a game has been altered for censorship or is
lacking features and or content should be transparent and it often
isn’t." Maru told Kotaku, "Cut-Content to me is defined as content that was snipped out to appease
something or someone AND is still being actively sold in its original
form, that’s KEY." One can read the article, "The Steam Players Who Fight Against 'Censorship' " in full in Kotaku.

Most of her time Maru's appeared as a black Lusk "Wah," or red panda, dressed in pink with pink wings, though more recently has gone about in a pinkish Kemono avatar. She's occasionally been called "The Pink Wonder." She also has her own "pink and fluffy" webpage at www.marusame.info.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

It's a week full of events as January comes to a close. At the Happy Vixen, DJ Tantari gets a little cybernetic with "Digital Love," followed by things getting wild with "Lions, Tigers, and Bears," oh my, and DJ Rose takes things back to the decade of Reagan, MTV, video games, and yuppies with "80's Night." At Club Cutlass, things get a little questionable and rowdy with "Best in Q and R," followed by a rather flighty event, "Best in Wings," and finally "Best in Red and White."

BAY CITY, SL (24th January, 2016) - The mainland community of Bay City welcomes all Second Life® members to their annual "Mole Day" celebration on the 30th of January, 2016. The event will be held in the Bay City Fairgrounds in North Channel

Initially honored in 2010 by Residents of Bay City, Mole Day is set aside to show appreciation for The Moles and their many contributions to Bay City and the rest of the Second Life™ Grid.

Normally held on the same day as Groundhog Day, this year's Mole Day will be observed three days early, taking advantage of the weekend. The event will feature a performance by Maximillion Kleen beginning at 11:00 a.m. SLT, following by a DJ set by GoSpeed Racer at noon.

"Moles" are members of The Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW). The LDPW is a program focused on improvements related to the experience of living on, or visiting the Linden Mainland. The LDPW is a team of Resident builders, scriptwriters, and others to create new content on Linden Lab's behalf and to the benefit of all. These Residents all have have Second Life accounts with the last name “Mole.”

Moles build the infrastructure of Second Life: the public roads and railways, items in our coastal waterways and protected lands, and even larger scale projects like the Linden Homes regions, premium content and experiences, and much more.

Bay City is a mainland community, developed by Linden Lab® and home to the Bay City Alliance. The Bay City Alliance was founded in 2008 to promote the Bay City regions of Second Life and provide a venue for Bay City Residents and other interested parties to socialize and network. It is now the largest group for Residents of Bay City.

For more information, or to participate in the event, please contact Marianne McCann.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Becky Shaman's journey's across Second Life recently took her to one of Second Life's many games: golf. Interested in giving the game a try, she headed to the Aero Golf Club at Lavender. So did Becky rate the course a "hole in one?" Or was it "under par?"

Music by radio has been with us for many years. When computers and Internet came to be, it was possible to play music over streams over the web. When Second Life came to be, each sim had the ability to have a certain station as background music. But are some of these stations in danger of being silenced? At the beginning of the year, new regulations concerning the operating costs of licensed stations inside the United States went into effect. The result is for smaller radio stations there, including many licensed streams in Second Life, running them has become much more expensive.

Yesterday on Sunday January 24 at Noon SL time, the memorial service for Shady Fox, a longtime resident whom was known in a number of places in Second Life, was held in Raglan Shire. The number of avatars in the two sims involved was huge, over 160 at one point.

Eventually, the service was moved to Heron Shire where his permanent memorial was dedicated (254, 82, 20). Afterwards, people were invited to a music event at a studio high above Raglan where several live musicians and DJs would perform.

More pictures from the event will be available later. For those who can't wait, there are some pictures available by Wildstar Beaumont and Teal Freenote.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Usually when one thinks of dragons, they're these huge monsters that hoard gold and are liable to eat anything or anyone smaller than they. But in some stories, the dragons aren't necessarily mean. And when you have draconic people, swords and armor are usually better than flame breath and scales. That is, if a bigger brain and opposable thumbs didn't cost them their flame breath.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Tomorrow, the Roman historical roleplay community has it's monthly festival. For this month, the theme is it's Paganalia. Four events from 10AM to 2 PM SL time cover different activities from a roleplayed Roman ritual to skating, to fishing, to a "deathmatch" combat (fortunetly for avatars, revival is just a keystroke away). So if you're in the mood for a "Roman holiday," stop on by.

From "Mymedazzaland" - "Just over a year ago I posted a video of the Bowie Second Life party
space I built for David's 61st Birthday in 2008, we celebrated again
this year with a cool party and I finally improved my SL video making
skills to produce a new video celebrating David's 62nd birthday and the
Second Life experience!"

Friday, January 22, 2016

Creations for Parkinsons, a sim known for it's good design and relaxing park atmosphere, now has a new area where one can party like it's Fat Tuesday. People are invited to check out the Mardi Gras Parade area, up for the third year in a row. Yours truly decided to take a look to see if the party measured up to the ones the "Big Easy" is noted for.

Tantari Kim is best known for "DJ Tantari's Journey of Sound" performances at clubs, notably the Happy Vixen. Today however, it'll be her wit and not her music that is up for show. First heard (or rather texted) at the SL Newser Five Year Celebration, here's Tantari Kim's "Bixyl Shuftan True Facts."

On Jan 24th at 2pm SLT, The Bowl at
Origen's Hollywood Venues will be hosting its first annual Christian Music
Festival. And it couldn't start out with a more distinguished line up of
performers.

Earlier this month, both The Pink Vampire and Luciano Lionheart
were name two of the top three vocalists in the 2015 Live Music Awards. They
will be presenting both traditional and contemporary Christian music for a time
of reflection and praise.

Christopher Quan and David Csiszer are well known around the
grid for their ability to remind people who God is and what he has done for
them through Jesus. Their music that always touches the heart and mind.

Please join us for this special event two-hour
event with Second Life’s top vocalists.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Though the official season does not kick off until March 6th, those of us in the fashion and events world know you have to start planning early. And so we’re hitting the ground running with an invitation to all across the music, art, and fashion worlds to join in on an amazing enterprise. A Stand for Hope is committing itself to a season of fun and fundraising as we celebrate our survivors, honor the fighters, and collaborate in high fashion to put an end to cancer.

Each month we’ll be doing at least one major event and we’re looking for talented individuals to join us. There will be opportunities for all to participate in dj competitions, photography exhibitions, fashion shows, dance festivals, and more. There’s even a competition for those amazing builders out there to strut their stuff. It is going to be an incredible six month venture that begins in March and goes through August, with a phenomenal awards to round out the season.

Zayn Till posted the following announcement about plans for the memorial service for Shady Fox, who passed away last Saturday.

* * * * *

The Raglan Memorial Service for Shady will be held this Sunday at 12pm
Noon SLT at Shady's Athen Shire land with space across the canal at the
Sillicube™ for folks to also attend.

There will be a short
service at which point we will move to the Heron Shire forest to
dedicate a memorial in Shadys name by the Stillpink memorial. After this
you are all invited to attend a day and night long afterparty to
celebrate Shady's story and legacy, and
which will feature live music from Frogg and Jaycatt as well as Keeba
plus the cadre of DJs to keep the party going.

We are having this at 12 pm so that all the many, many, many, friends
of Shady who have known him in Raglan Shire and Second Life and online
in all its many incarnations AND who live over seas can have the
opportunity to attend. 12 pm SLT is 9pm in Denmark, 8pm in the UK etc
which is already a bit late. Anyone who cannot attend at 12 pm can
attend the party and share their stories of Shady.

Look for LM/locations a few days before.

* * * * *

OldeSoul invited anyone who had questions to contact him, or RacerX Gullwing.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

It's another week of events at the Sunweaver clubs. At Cutlass, it's a night of purple, panthers, and PARTY as they have their "Best in P" event. This is followed up by their tribute to the musician Glenn Frey whom sadly passed away this week, and finally a salute to the flower children of the 60s with "Hippies." At the Happy Vixen, the spirited DJ Tantari starts things up with "Simply Science." Next is "Surf's Up," followed by a trip into the rain forest by DJ Rose with "Rumble in the Jungle."

Monday, January 18, 2016

Dr. Philly (Joshua Xavier) is back with his column about "people issues" in Second Life, such as love, relationships, drama, and more. In the latest two letters, the first reader asks about how to handle people whom just won't respond to being talked to. The second deals with a resident whom wonders what "the rules" are about being able to take advantage of an avatar's ability to more or less take on any form at will.

In the Linden Blog, it was recently mentioned that today Draxtor Despres will be doing a filming inworld for an upcoming episode for his "Drax Files." His subject: Project Bento. He wants to see what various content creators have been able to come up with so far with it, and has announced an "open casting call for anyone who has built something with Bento to show off their work."

It should be noted that the filming will not be done in the main Second Life grid, but the Aditi grid, also known as the Preview Grid.

If you’re a creator who’s testing out
Project Bento, or one who’s eager to give it a try - now is the perfect
time! We’re looking for creators to show off some of the possibilities
of Project Bento for an upcoming episode of The Drax Files. There are detailed instructions on how to get started and how to get to the beta grid (aditi) on our wiki page. (TIP:Testing on Aditi does not cost you upload fees!)On January 19th at NOON SLT, there
will be an open casting call for anyone who has built something with
Bento to come show off their work. Selected creators may be filmed
and/or interviewed to be featured in an upcoming episode of the Drax
Files. You will need to login to Aditi in order to access the location (secondlife://Aditi/secondlife/Bento%20Island/128/128/23). The location will not be open until NOON SLT on January 10th Information about Aditi and how to access it is located on our wiki.

Content creators "are encouraged to contact" Draxtor about their projects, "video, screenshots, descriptions - the more information the better." Those whom Draxtor choses to appear on his video will be contacted about where and when to meet up for a private filming on Wednesday January 20. Besides Dractor, Torley Linden will be there.

With the announcement of Shady Fox's passing yesterday, we postponed the Cartoon of the Day out of respect. As Shady did appear in the setting of one cartoon a year and a half ago at the Second Life Eleventh Birthday Celebrations. Thanks again for the laughs, Shady.

My younger brother "Shady Fox" has had terminal bladder cancer for 4 months. He passed away today in a hospice, holding his mother's hand, and quietly in peace. I will miss him.

The Newser found out about Shady's illness in late December. He had been diagnosed with cancer in early October and his last post on his Facebook page was in early November. Following the announcement of his passing, the page was soon filled with numerous tributes. "SL and the world has lost a wonderful DJ and person today. R.I.P. Shady Fox. You fought valiantly. You are already sorely missed."

"God bless you Shady, and may you enjoy eternal rest. Thank you for all the music and friendship you shared."

"Thank you my good friend, for being there for me when I needed to just
sit and cry. Your sock puppets n' beautiful purple eyes brought me such
comfort. I'm holding you and your family in my heart and in my
prayers."

"Shady Fox,
my heart is broken. I'm so happy you're done hurting, I'm so glad for
the pain being gone. But I hurt because I miss you, and wish you could
comfort me. I know that sounds stupid, but it's how I feel. I miss our
talks, I miss dancing with you, I miss so much. Everyone is thinking
about you and missing you, we're trying our best to hold your whole
family in our constant thoughts. I just want you to know how much you're
loved, and always will be. I miss you."

"RIP Shady Fox! I love you bacon face!!! no one played as many Rick Springfield songs for me as you did, sometimes when I didn't even ask. I won't forget all the fun times in Second Life as well as gaming
together on steam. How you would always have the cheats and help me
win, kind of like when you would help me win Cheesi game/tournaments in
Shire! what a blast we had killing zombies (even though one time you
just ditched me and Kage Stratten mid zombie hoarde) and how much fun we all had playing Far Cry 4. EGULL! watch the talons!! Rhino! it's charging!! You were always so kind and sweet to me. I'll never forget when I
thought I was moving to Portland (which later fell thru) and got excited
over all the touristy things we were goin to do together. you went
silent and i thought oh gee I'm being overwhelmingly annoying but you
said to me 'Yeah!!! I can finally get a real life hug!' that prob the
sweetest thing anyone ever said to me. and you still owe me that hug
buddy! I won't forget our last convo either, how you (not me)
referenced to us talking 2 other times that week. we hadn't but I dream't
of you, and you brought up things we spoke about in those dreams. that
is how I was able to say all those very tough, emotional things to you
in our last call. I told you even though you knew you were dying
that you would live on in my heart as well as so many others forever.
and I told you whatever came next, and I believe there is a next, you
will be ok. I know in my heart you are finally out of this pain! Oh and this needs to be said. F**K CANCER. just f**k it. first Bowie, then Snape and now Shady Fox! Going to sign off this message with song you played at end of all your
DJ sets, from The Producers, Goodbye. Adios, au revoir, wiedersehen."

Luskwood had the following announcement by Death Berger, "I unfortunately have to tell you guys with deep sorrow that Shady Fox just has passed away after losing his fight against cancer. Lets take a moment to be with him and his family in our thoughts. Shady Fox was doing the scifi theatre in lusk for many years, he made many friends and will be greatly missed. He passed peacefully, holding his mom's hand."

The Newser was contacted by RacerX Gullwing, of the Giant Snail Races that Shady had been a part of, "He was a great guy was always helping out everyone he knew. Managed to get tiny seating for us at the races and ran the streaming sound when Safra left. But having him on the show... Well we were very lucky to have him."

At Raglan Shire, there was a gathering of people getting together, reminiscing about Shady, "Now i'm bawling my eyes out all over again - that was a beautiful story Summer." "At least he not in any pain anymore, he is at peace now." "I know he's with StillPink and Fox Obviate having a heck of a Raglan Reunion." "Singing 'Dance Magic Dance' with Dave and Alan and Lemmy." "We are all feeling the loss of a great person and friend one of the kindnest humans me ever known." "Thanks for sharing memories of Shady. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten and will always be in our hearts."

Nearby, a makeshift memorial was being set up for Shady, people putting up pictures and objects of his. This included his "trading card," as well as one huge picture blown up to giant size.

An inworld memorial service is being planned for Shady Fox, possibly at Raglan. The time and place have yet to be revealed.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

There
is a new performance at the Roseland Theater that is lots of fun. It is “Moulin
Rouge”. It is a delightful musical review of music from the movie Moulin Rouge
(2001) The stage sets are marvelous from beginning to end. The scenery is
changed for each piece of music and is lovely. The costumes are charming and
reminiscent of 1900. The set and costume changes were so swift it was amazing to
watch. The dances are diverse and the choreography wonderful.

Angelus Llorien
(BarefootBrit Resident) owner of the theater played the part of Ewan McGregor,a
Scottish writer, the hero of the show. Semina Llorien (Semiina Resident)
producer, played the part of Satine, a terminally ill actress with whom Ewan
falls in love. In the end Satine does die but not before they affirm their love.
The liveliness of the music keeps everyone aware of the times in Paris 1900. The
movie won many awards including best music so I know you will enjoy it.

The next showing of Moulin Rouge will be
Sunday January 24 at 1:00pm slt. Makes for a great Sunday afternoon! If you are
looking for a show this Sunday another performance of “Peter Pan” is
scheduled.The entrance to the theater ishttp://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Romanum%20V/96/113/3205Gemma Cleanslate

Produced October 2015 by Diana Al Martini -"Fayzan Huzayl (27), a blind youth, energetic and positive thinker
passionately singing songs and playing guitar to entertain his audience.
Through a tragedy that happened in his life, music drives him forward
to see the positive side of life and he believes that through his music
he can lighten up people's hope and happiness within them. That has
become his dream ever since. Although he tried to radiate positive side
of life, people's keep pushing him down due to his disablities. But
Fayzan took that as a challenge and keep pursuing his dream that seems
impossible to others but to him only one little jump to achieve it."

Friday, January 15, 2016

Wesley Regenbogen is back with the latest of his club reviews, and one of his more unique. Jay's Club orgins sadly arose from a tragedy when the owner's real-life son died. As his son was a DJ who loved music, a year later the father created an account in honor of him: JayMaze Yao. Jay's Club, the venue he owns, is a tribute to him, three clubs in one, and playing a variety of music. Read Wesley's review in Places.

Gemma Cleanslate recently saw a classic play brought to Second Life: "Swan Lake." Originally written by Peter
Tchaikovsky, this inworld adaptation was brought to life by the crew of Fantasy Dreams. The show will be appearing again at the end of the month. So did Gemma think it was worth going to?Read Gemma's review in Events.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

About two years ago, the Newser first took a look at the survival MMO game "Rust." Recently we decided to take a look again to see what's changed. And quite a bit has changed. While it still starts with you having nothing but a rock, there is the addition of new terrain, new enemies, new tools, and more things that make gameplay quite a bit different from before.

On Saturday January 9 at Noon, the Newser crew had it's monthly meeting at it's office in HV Community. Those present were Gemma Cleanslate, Nydia Tungsten, FoxytheJamie, myself (Bixyl Shuftan) and a guest, Deaflegacy Darkbloom. With the Christmas season behind us, we talked about topics we could write about this month with no major events for the next few weeks.

Recently Becky Shamen checked out the "Roots" build at the Night Atoll sim. Designed and built by Cica Ghost, who has done a number of exhibits over the past few years, Becky described the area as having a quite organic and fertile look, so well done one can almost smell the richness of the dirt in the air.

Valentines Day is still a month away. But Linden Lab is already getting ready for the holiday. In their latest entry in the official Second Life blog, they invited residents to share their romance-themed pictures.

Valentine’s Day is just on the horizon and will
be here before you can get through a handful of heart candies! We’re
looking for some great Second Life pictures from the community to
feature in upcoming email and banner campaigns - with credit to the
photographer - of course! In a snapshot, let us know what Valentine’s Day means to you in Second Life.

Residents wishing to take part were invited to post themed pictures on the official Second Life Flickr page with the tag "SLVday2016." Among the submission requirements, images must be 2048 x 1207 or larger, no nudity or provocative clothing, the avatar(s) must be in a scene that could easily be used to tell a story, the image itself is free of text and logos, and the avatar(s) can be easily seen in the picture (not too dark or against a background in which they're hard to see).

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Sadly, Primal Passions is gone. But the events at the remaining active Sunweaver clubs go on. At Club Cutlass, the alphabet events get a little onrey with "Best in O," followed with a little winter with "Snowy Whites," and then an invitation to play a game with "console wars." At The Happy Vixen, get an umbrella as it's raining "Cats and Dogs."

On Friday night, January 8, the Steelhead community held their weekly party not at Club Gears or at Ravenwood Forest (formerly Steelhead Nevermoor), but at another Steampunk community's estate: Caledon. "We're here to take over," one Steelheader mused, "but don't tell anyone that." Fuzzball Ortega provided the tunes for the music for the event.

Cynthia Farshore was among those there. She caught this picture of a "Star Trek" shuttlecraft making an entrance. Perhaps some time-traveller had a little trouble with his machine and had to jury-rig something.

And speaking of time-travellers, it wouldn't be a proper Steelhead dance without an appearance from the Daleks. But as usual, all that "steelhead trout" thrown at them soon short-circuited them.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Last week, we announced Dr. Phily (JoshuaXavier Resident) would be handling our advice column about "people issues" in Second Life, such as love, relationships, drama, and more. Afterwards, we received not one, but two responses. Both were residents having to deal with neighbor trouble. Dr. Phily offers his advice on the matters.